A Thousand Years
by RiotFest
Summary: Soul mates meet in more ways than one, but for Princess Anna and Queen Elsa, it's different. A thousand years different. Elsanna AU


**I don't own Frozen ©**

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Soul mates meet in more ways than one. Someone could meet theirs in an instant while others meet theirs after waiting and wandering for a few years. However it's different for Princess Anna of Arendelle. She didn't know it yet, but she met hers in a dream at a tender young age, too young to even remember.

She played with her soul mate, she talked to her soul mate, and she hugged and cuddled with her soul mate, and laughed and cried with her soul mate. All these encounters were all at night, in dreams that they shared together.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. As the years go on, Anna stopped having those dreams. She didn't notice it nor cared, she simply thought those dreams meant nothing when in actuality they mean a whole lot more.

Years and years passed and Anna transformed from that chubby 5 year old to a more sophisticated (on one of those rare moments) young woman at age 18. Dreams with that person she shared with vanished to thin air, but luckily as said before, soul mates meet in more ways than one.

It happened like any ole day. Her father is locked away in his council room with the elders while her mother is dealing with diplomats that come from far lands to make deals with Arendelle. When her parents are this busy, Anna likes to explore the castle. She has explored every nook and cranny for 14 years but she's always looking for more. She heard talk from an elder that this castle is centuries old and has many hidden rooms and treasures and that makes Anna determined to find them all.

Right now, she's in the portrait room. It's her absolute favorite place because of all the faces and how different each portrait looks from one another. Her great-grandmother was a big fan of art and dedicated this room to it. She bought every piece she could get her hands on and spent quite a fortune.

Anna's favorite portrait is of Jeanne D'Arc. She loves how brave and courageous the saint looks and the way she wields the sword and shield makes Anna want to get her own and fight the English. Anna also loves to talk to Jeanne. It's an odd habit, but after years of being alone, (she only has one friend, Kristoff, but he's an ice harvester and is always on the move), she picked up the routine of talking to the portraits, spilling her secrets and wishes to each one of them equally, and sharing her dreams and goals that she wishes to accomplish.

Anna runs her fingers on the Jeanne D'Arc's frame. She feels the rough edges and the dull copper that probably use to shine brightly back then. Her eyes focus pass the elusion of authenticity and sees every detail of the portrait. Every brush stroke and mistake is easily spotted and the small dent in the side of her elbow is standing out to Anna. Everyone couldn't see that dent except for her, after years of staring longingly at Jeanne.

"Hey Jeanne."

Jeanne says nothing as usual and looks straight ahead with purpose on her horse with the sword above her head. Anna smiles at her and continues to touch the frame.

"Mama and Papa are out again." She continues and traces the vine-like details. "Mama and I were suppose to go out in the village to visit all the quaint little shops, but things got held up."

She traces all the way to the edge and decides to feel the brush strokes the artist made long ago. "Papa was suppose to each me how to play chess cause I forgot how, but he got held up as well."

Anna looks at her eyes and she swore Jeanne was giving her this look of pity. She takes back her hand and crosses her arms over her chest. "Hey! It's not their fault. They're awfully busy. They run a kingdom, you know!"

Anna could just picture Jeanne rolling her eyes at her excuse. "Well I apologize for wanting to hold a conversation with you."

And with that she hops off the couch and decides to talk to other portraits. She decides to talk to one that is almost the length of a closet-door. It depicted a man with his arms behind his back, standing tall like a soldier, with his hair pushed back and eyes that hold no emotion. If he weren't stuck in his frame, he would look so real.

She isn't too fond of this piece. It didn't seem friendly or open so she never really bothered to talk to this one. The portrait holds neither title nor name of the artist that painted him. It's like he's made with no purpose, but she suspects her great-grandmother only got him because she liked the way the reds and yellows mix in the background.

Her head tilts to the side and she snaps her fingers. "I shall call you…Edvin." Anna smiles proudly at herself. "You look like an Edvin."

Edvin says nothing and stands there as if he's guarding something. Anna nods in sympathy and agrees with him. "I understand. It's hard work. I'm so glad you understand the hardships."

Anna decides she'll stick with Edvin. She leans against the wall he's on and slides down to his painted boots. "You look awfully serious." She begins. "Mama says that you shouldn't be serious all the time or else you'll get wrinkles."

Anna imagines Edvin laughing or at least chuckling at her little joke. "You seem like the silent type, Edvin. I can't say that I like that, but Papa says you should give them a chance."

Anna looks at him straight in his hazel eyes. "I like to get along with shy people cause when you get to know them they'll start showing you their real self and I like to think of that as a treasure hunt. The closer you get, the closer you get to the gold. It's silly to compare it with, but it's true."

"Do you like jokes, Edvin? I told Jeanne this one yesterday." She tells him. "What dangles near a man's thigh and pokes through a hole?" Pause. "A key!"

Anna snorts loudly at her own joke and bends down to laugh out loud. Her head whips back and hits the wall. Anna's laugh switches to a cry as she rubs her head gently from the pain.

"Ow!" Anna groans and scoots away from the hollow wall. Wait—hollow? Her pain subsides immediately as the gears in her head churn. The walls in this room aren't' suppose to be hollow.

She stands back up and suspiciously places her ear on the wall as she knocks on it with her knuckles. Her eyes widen in surprise when she hears a small echo. Suddenly her hands stick to the wall as she tries to find something to get through the wall. Her gut is telling her that it's probably one of the hidden rooms that the elder was talking about!

As her hands sweep across the wall, her elbow accidently moves Edvin's frame. She was about to straighten it out when she sees the wall behind the portrait is darker than the wallpaper. Curiosity gets the best of her and she removes Edvin off the wall. She places him to the side and right there in front of her is a door.

Anna looks at Edvin, still standing tall. "So you were shielding something away from me." She smiles at him teasingly.

Then she looks back at the door and notices how ancient it looks. It's decorated with snowflake-like symbols and the doorknob is rusty with splotches of brown all over it. Without hesitation she grabs hold of it and feels how cold it is. Slowly, she turns it and her face grimaces when she realizes how hard it is to open. It's obvious no one has used this door for a very, very, _very_ long time.

After a few tries, it finally jerks open and Anna gradually puts one foot in. Her eyes widen and she gasps when she finds this enormous fireplace with a dusty couch in the middle along with a short table in front of it. A large bookcase filled with moldy books is on the left and on the right is a huge portrait of a woman holding the scared globus cruciger and traditional scepter that her papa held in his own portrait back in his chambers.

Anna looks at the woman's head and sees her wearing a crown.

"She was a Queen." She whispers in awe.

She stares at the woman a few more seconds before walking off to the timeworn hearth. She touches the cold stones and sees a small bucket full of matches. It is awfully cold in here, she thought and takes a match. She scratches it against the stone and smiles when a flame flickers. She tosses it in the fireplace where a few logs were already in place.

Anna scans the area again; this place must be the Queen's private get-away-room.

The fire roars to life instantly, warming Anna and the room up right away. She sits on the floor for a longtime, gazing at the portrait of the Queen. Anna notices the artist captured her dominating nature in her eyes and the way she stands tall so proudly, but the feel of anxiety loses it's touch because of the way she holds the scepter and the globus cruciger. Her fingers look like they're twitching anxiously and Anna bets that her hands are awfully sweaty underneath her teal gloves.

Anna goes back to her face and admires the pale, flawless complexion of her skin. It's almost like snow, really, fresh snow that hasn't been touched or ruined. Her eyes were brilliantly bright and Anna couldn't tell if her eyes were green or blue. Perhaps they were teal since they match so handsomely with her gloves. And her hair, her hair is tied in a traditional bun that a queen should usually wear (just like her Mama) and it makes her look so formal and no offense to her own mother, but this Queen wears it better than her.

"Who were you?" She wonders out loud.

As expected, the Queen does not reply.

Anna shakes her head humorously and gets up from her place to wander about near the bookshelves. She noticed that all the books were from the 17th century and late 1600s. So this Queen ruled Arendelle over a thousand years ago, Anna thought and runs her finger down a sooty book, collecting ancient dust on the pad of her finger. A good handful of these books were about how Arendelle was formed and what economic systems they used and another group were mostly about the wars that Arendelle has fought in.

"This Queen sure loved history." Anna muses. Her eyes gaze over and sees a big, fat book that is labeled 'Fairytales'.

Her hand immediately latches onto it and she easily lifts the book up. She holds it and flips through ever page. I spoke too soon, she thought as she observes that this book has been used an awful lot. The pages were yellow, probably yellower than the other books and the edges were bent and folded, they were obviously bookmarked by the Queen, showing Anna that certain stories were her favorite.

Deciding that she'll spend her time in her for a while, Anna moves over to the couch in the middle. She plops down on it and feels how hard the cushion is. In confusion, Anna places the book on the low table in front of her and lifts herself up. It wasn't a cushion she sat on it was another book.

She picks up the book and examines it. It was like any other ordinary book in here, old, worn, ancient, but it has a different feel to it. Anna curiously opens it and sees writing, not printed writing, but handwritten writing—cursive is she wanted to be specific. Up in the corner of the page was a date: _21 October 1696. _

This was someone's journal, Anna thought as her eyes widen. Does she dare read this? The person is already dead, so there's no harm…But she feels like she's reading their thoughts and isn't that wrong? Gulping down her guilt, she sits back down, letting the fire crack and pop in front of her as she begins to read the neat handwriting.

_I've been so lonely. One of the maids that pass by my room to give me my meals suggested that I write out my feelings. Honestly, it's a brilliant idea and that's why I'm writing. _

_Where to begin? I've never shared my thoughts with someone or something for years now. I guess I shall tell you my age and my name and so on. My name is Elsa and I am 16 years old, an only child, and I've forgotten what the touch of another human being feels like in years. 7 years if you're wondering. I just had to lock myself away, father and mother wouldn't understand, they don't have the burden that I do. _

_Father says I was born with this curse, mother says that she probably ate something terrible that caused me to be like this. I know I'm making them sound ashamed of me, but they're not ashamed. They love me with all their heart. It wasn't always like this, me hiding and locking myself in my room for most of my life. _

_I use to run freely outside my room and outside of this castle. I was still hidden of course, I played in the wilderness with another boy named Hans, and we would duel with wooden swords and play in the snow in the summer._

Anna squints her eyes at the last few words. Snow in summer? What?

_That was such a long time that it feels so surreal that I use to laugh and smile. I suppose I should tell you what happened though, that made me go into hiding. _

_7 years ago, it was the middle of July and I snuck out of castle grounds to meet up with Hans, he's a prince from the Southern Isles and his family always visits every summer and would stay in our castle. We usually meet up separately so no one could catch us together…_

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**25 July 1689**

Elsa pants while she sprints straight towards the forest. She can hear Hans' wooden sword bang against the trees and the grunts he makes whenever he smashes his toy against stones. She goes through a few bushes until she gets to their hiding spot. It's an exclusive area that hides them well enough for them to be practically invisible.

Hans huffs from his make-believe battle with an ogre and grins when he sees Elsa. He drops his sword and runs over to her with a hug.

"Elsa!" Hans smiles. "I've been waiting here for, like, ever! Where were you?"

Elsa dusts off some leaves off her dress and giggles. "The guards were eyeing me like a hawk! Whenever I tried to sneak off, they always asked where on earth I was going!"

"I'm so glad you got away." He tells her and hands her another one of his wooden swords. "We're playing swords then we can play whatever you wish for."

"Swords again?" Elsa whines.

Hans sticks his tongue out at her. "I was here first and you know the rules, whoever gets here first gets to decide what game we shall play!"

Elsa crosses her arms and doesn't say anything. Honestly, she didn't mind playing swords, she realized it was good practice for a real one and she watched Hans fence with one of his older brothers. Hans is a genius while yielding anything that resembles a sword and all these sword games helped Elsa learn how to use one and how to attack her opponent.

The two children stand at least ten feet away from each other, both their small hands clutching the base tightly as possible and at the same time, their right foot would slide back along the grass until they get into position. Suddenly they gallop at each other with smiles on their faces. Wooden swords bang against each other as they try to block each other's attacks.

"I'm not gonna let you win this time." Elsa exclaims and swings her arms back. "You got lucky cause my dress was holding me back."

She swings forward; ready to aim right at his side when his own sword saves him. Hans tries to smack her sword out of her hands, but Elsa pulls back just in time.

"Stop making up stuff." Hans teases her and because of his knowledge of sword fighting from his brothers, he has the upper hand. He maneuvers around Elsa and kicks the back of her knee, causing her to fall on the grass.

Elsa turns around and sees Hans in a different light. This angle makes him look more menacing especially when he raises his sword above his head, ready to chop her head off. Elsa's heart is racing with—with fear.

But he stops.

Hans drops his wooden toy to the side and with a friendly gesture and smile, he helps Elsa up to her feet and wipes off some grass off of her dress for her. Elsa smiles bashfully at the princely actions.

"Are you okay?" He asks in concern. "I'm really sorry, I'm so use to dueling with my brothers that I forget how to act around a girl."

"What is that suppose to mean?" Elsa pouts.

Hans' eyes widen and he tries to fix the problem. "I-I mean th-there's nothing wrong with girls! Th-They're very noble when it comes to fighting."

"Name one woman that is a knight."

"You know what I mean." Hans throws his hands up in defeat.

Elsa giggles and pokes his side, making him giggle as well. "Alright. Now let's have a snowball fight!"

Hans' eyes perk up at the suggestion but then soon fade. "That's the only fight you'll ever win!"

"That's cause I'm a master at snow." Elsa teases and wiggles her fingers. She looks back at Hans who's already excited to see the magic that is about to come. "Ready?"

"Absolutely." He jumps on his toes.

Elsa's small hands glow blue and soon snowflakes gather in her arms. Hans watch in awe as his best friend's hands swirl the snowflakes around before shooting them straight into the air. Soon billions and billions of snowflakes fall from the sky and both Hans and Elsa dance around in it with pure joy.

"This is so awesome!" Hans grins from a small snow hill that has formed. He rolls down it on his side and when he came down Elsa bursts out in laughter at how ridiculous he looked. He was trapped in a big ball of snow after all.

"Help, I'm stuck!"

"You look like a snowman." Elsa grins and digs Hans out of snow.

Hans rolls his eyes and tells her. "Well come on then, let's have our snowball fight!"

Elsa smirks and with a flick of her wrists, she creates two forts just a few feet away from each other. Hans and Elsa gets behind their respective forts and start to build snowballs. Elsa decides to make them by hand, seeing how unfair it was to use her own powers.

After a few minutes, the children were ready and in a blink of an eye, snowballs fling back and forth. Hans laughs boisterously and whips a snowball at Elsa. Elsa blocks it easily with an ice shield that came out from the ground. Elsa smirks and makes a huge snowball in the air.

Hans shrieks with laughter and runs off to hide behind a tree but Elsa catches up to him. They continue to run through the forest with Elsa holding a floating, giant snowball. Hans looks back to see determination in Elsa's eyes and he was about to stick his tongue out and mock her when suddenly he trips over a tree stump.

Elsa's snowball dissolves and in panic her hand shoots out snow to save Hans from bashing his head against the rock that was in front of him, but the mossy ground she stands on causes her to slip back as the explosion of magic escapes her palm and backfires.

"Hans!" Elsa watches in horror as the magic bolt of ice misses her target and hits Hans right in his forehead. "No!"

Everything about this moment seemed like it was in slow motion.

Hans' eyes widen in distress from the blast and then close when his head collides against the rock. Elsa gets up, her heart racing and her eyes watering, she drops to her knees and turns Hans' head towards her. The ice blast doesn't show a mark but the gash he got from the rock was very noticeable. Crimson blood stains him horribly.

"No, no, no." Elsa whimpers. Tears spill down her cheeks and she doesn't bother to dry them. "Hans…Wake up. Wake up, Hans. Pl-Please."

Hans didn't wake up. Elsa had to save him and the only way to do it was to get hers and Hans' parents. Gulping down the fear of the possible whips she'll get from the Royal Southern Isles family, Elsa moves Hans to a more comfortable position before she races off back to the castle.

"Mama!" Elsa cries out in agony, as if she was the one that got hurt. "Papa!"

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_Hans' parents were aggravated at this. They blamed me, damned me as a monster, a witch, a freak, and forbade me from seeing Hans again. I was devastated. How would you feel if you were 9 years old and were told you were never to see your best friend again? I was in tears for weeks until mother coaxed me that it wasn't entirely my fault._

_It was. _

_I never saw Hans again, my only friend. From that day on, I never left my room. Too afraid to touch anyone, too terrified that I'll hurt them like I did with Hans. Mother said I never really physically touched Hans that caused him his injuries, but I did, my magic did. _

_I wrote to Hans, asking him how he was and what he was doing. He never wrote me back. One of his brothers did though and they told me that Hans doesn't want to bother with me no more and would be content if I stopped writing. I sadly obeyed his wishes. _

_I wish I wasn't so lonely. Perhaps it's my own fault for allowing myself to be locked away or maybe if I wasn't so reckless with my powers that I would still have my best friend visit every summer or possibly if it weren't for who I am, I would be happier. _

_-Elsa _

Sadness and confusion wash over Anna. She feels for Elsa, understands how lonely it is in this castle and how she only has one friend. Sure, Anna can still see hers but Elsa? Her best friend is gone for good. Anna only wishes she could travel back in time to be her friend, Elsa seemed like a good person and wouldn't dare to hurt a fly.

But one small thing sticks out to her. Magic? _Snow_ magic? Is that even possible? Anna squints her eyes as she rereads a few lines to make sure she didn't misread anything. So this Elsa controls or makes snow and ice with her bare hands? It's interesting to say the least, but is this true?

She needs to investigate.


End file.
